Local re-enactor heads to Gettysburg anniversary

For two men who know they'll be on the losing side of a gun battle this weekend, Ron Crawley and Ed Harrelson are pretty optimistic. They've waited years for this.

By Drew BrooksHalifax Media Group

For two men who know they'll be on the losing side of a gun battle this weekend, Ron Crawley and Ed Harrelson are pretty optimistic.They've waited years for this. And in a horse corral outside Crawley's home in Inman on Tuesday, the men looked themselves up and down in preparation for their more than 500-mile trek on Thursday.Harrelson, of Tryon, is a Hendersonville-based lawyer. Crawley is an IT project manager. But this weekend, they are privates in the Confederate Army — more specifically, the 2nd Virginia Cavalry.The men will be among roughly 12,000 re-enactors at the 150th Gettysburg Anniversary National Civil War Battle Reenactment, a four-day spectacle that highlights a year of anniversary-related events at one of the nation's most well-known battlefields.Harrelson and his horse, Sadie, and Crawley and his horse, Calhoun, will be among a 400-troop cavalry, according to organizers. They'll be joined by 135 full-size cannon and watched by between 60,000 and 90,000 spectators during the four days.At Crawley's corral, the men sweated in their wool coats. They check their sabers, their hats, their gun holsters and even their buttons.“Your clothes, your accoutrements — it all has to be right,” Harrelson said. “This coat is really only appropriate from 1862 to 1864 in the eastern theater. Even just a year off makes a big difference.”Crawley, mounted on Calhoun, wiped his brow and adjusted his rifle. He didn't have time to grow a beard or mustache for the event, but his chin was covered with stubble.“One thing we're not looking forward to — the heat,” he added.Harrelson and Crawley will be part of an international event, according to officials at the Gettysburg, Pa., National Military Park.Re-enactors and visitors alike will come from across the globe. More than 300 of the re-enactors themselves will represent 16 foreign countries, and the tens of thousands of visitors will include spectators from 18 countries.Each of the four days will include famous battles, with the highlight being Pickett's Charge, a recreation of the futile, July 3, 1863, assault that saw row after row of Confederate soldiers march into a firestorm of Union bullets.In all, nine engagements will be recreated, officials said. Pickett's Charge will be streamed live online Sunday afternoon.Harrelson and Crawley have known each other for nearly 20 years and their friendship began and has grown on mock battlefields.At one point, the pair attended more than 16 re-enactments a year.“You literally could go to one every weekend,” Crawley said.But as their families have grown and the men have gotten older — Crawley is 51, Harrelson is 44 — the men have cut back on their outings.Still, they wouldn't have missed Gettysburg, they said. Not the “big one.”“It's pretty special,” Crawley said. “This being the 150th, it's more special. I definitely wouldn't have missed this one. I've been looking forward to it for years.”Both men are part of a local group called the Iron Scouts that does Revolutionary War, Civil War and World War II re-enactments.But “The Hobby,” as the men repeatedly call it, goes far beyond playing dress-up on a dirt pitch.“It's more than spending a small fortune in clothes that are 150 years out of style,” Harrelson said.The pair said they strive for historical accuracy and often share that knowledge with school groups or spectators during “living history” events.Re-enacting is just one part of it, they said.Harrelson and Crawley sometimes perform parts, playing real people or fictional cousins. They have fun, but they're also serious.“Living history is open, really, to anybody,” Harrelson said. “There's so much you read about. But when you see what it actually looked like, It gives you a whole ‘nother perspective.”“[A cavalry] could be three miles wide,” he added. “You can't get your mind around that when you're reading it in a book.”History brings you in, the men said. Friends keep you coming.“It's stress relief,” Crawley said of sleeping on the ground, covered in red clay dust and eating period-specific, fire-cooked meals. “It's just an energizing thing. And you really need to leave your cellphone at home.”“I'm certainly not refighting the war. It's the military history itself that interests me,” Harrelson added. “I want to put myself in the shoes of a poor man who eats bad food, marches long distances and sleeps on the cold, hard ground. It's an American soldier story. We honor those soldiers and push ourselves.”